Hugh Dunbar Brown (18 May 1919 – 10 March 2008) was a British Labour Party politician. After serving as a councillor on the

Glasgow Corporation The politics of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city by population, are expressed in the deliberations and decisions of Glasgow City Council, in elections to the council, the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament. Local government As one of ...

, he was Member of Parliament for Glasgow Provan for 23 years. He has been described as the last "

Red Clydeside Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a sig ...

r".

Early life

Brown was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, where his father was a

Clydeside Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

engineer. He was educated at

Allan Glen's School Allan Glen's School was, for most of its existence, a local authority, selective secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland, charging nominal fees for tuition. It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment Scholarship Trust on the death, i ...

and Whitehill Secondary School, Glasgow. He left school aged 14 to work at the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, and played semi-professional football at Shettleston Juniors. By 1935 he was a temporary postman-messenger and by 1937 a sorting clerk and telegraphist. Both of his parents were members of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

, which he also joined in 1935. He moved over to the Labour Party in 1946. He became a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in 1947 at the

Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance The Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance (MPNI) was a British government ministry responsible for the administration and delivery of welfare benefits. It was headed by the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance. It was created in 19 ...

. In 1947 he married Mary Carmichael, daughter of ILP and then Labour MP Jimmy Carmichael and sister of future Labour MP and peer Neil Carmichael, and he served as a councillor on the

from 1954. He became a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in 1961.

Political career

Brown left the civil service in 1962, when he was selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate, and served as MP for Glasgow Provan from 1964 until he retired in 1987.

His constituency in north-east Glasgow had a high rate of unemployment, included several large public sector housing estates, including

Easterhouse Easterhouse is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, east of the city centre on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of an expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. The area is on high ground north of the River Clyde and south ...

and Blackhill, and also covered

Barlinnie Prison HM Prison Barlinnie is the largest prison in Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Prison Service and is located in the residential suburb of Riddrie, in the north east of Glasgow, Scotland. It is informally known locally as The Big Hoose, ...

. His political views lay to the left-wing of the party, and his parliamentary interests concentrated mainly on constituency and Scottish matters. After winning the ballot for

Private Members Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

s one year, he successfully pushed through his bill to become the

Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969 The Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969 (c. 37) is a short statute which makes employers strictly liable for defective equipment that causes any injury. The purpose was to ensure that employers fully insure their staff for all healt ...

. He was

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

Judith Hart Constance Mary Hart, Baroness Hart of South Lanark, (née Ridehalgh; 18 September 19247 December 1991), known as Dame Judith Hart, was a British Labour Party politician. She served as a government minister during the 1960s and 1970s before ...

, the

Paymaster-General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP. History The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posit ...

, and served as

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post (of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank) in the Government of the United Kingdom, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland. The post is also know ...

during the 1974–1979 Labour government, dealing with home affairs, housing and agriculture and fisheries. After

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

expanded its claimed fishing territory to 200

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s, Brown joined the MP for

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

Tony Crosland Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influential book ''The ...

, as British negotiator with Iceland during the third

Cod War The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...

, in 1976–77. Brown was praised for the role he played in resolving the dispute both by the Prime Minister,

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

, and by the Icelandic Government. He survived a reselection challenge by a

Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

candidate before the 1983 general election, and retired before the 1987 general election. His successor,

Jimmy Wray James Aloysius Joseph Patrick Gabriel WrayAaron Goldstei"Jimmy Wray, R.I.P.", ''The American Spectator'', 25 May 2013. (28 April 1935 – 25 May 2013) was a Scottish politician and Labour Member of Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston and Glasg ...

, was also closely challenged by Militant. In later life, he was a director of Margaret McIver Limited, which owned a ballroom and market in Glasgow. In retirement, he enjoyed playing golf and listening to jazz, particularly

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

. His wife died in 2000. He died in Glasgow in 2008, and was survived by his daughter.

References

*''

Times Guide to the House of Commons ''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'' is a political reference guide book published by Times Newspapers giving coverage of general elections in the United Kingdom. Following most general elections since 1880, the book has been published. The ...

1983'' *
Obituary, ''The Independent'', 12 March 2008Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 16 March 2008Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 18 March 2008Obituary, ''The Times'', 19 March 2008

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Hugh 1919 births 2008 deaths Scottish Labour MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies Civil servants in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance Scottish civil servants Councillors in Glasgow UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 People educated at Allan Glen's School Red Clydeside People educated at Whitehill Secondary School Scottish Labour councillors